As usual, I will be organizing the panel programming for the weekend of events. With the new much larger venue, we expect to have three full tracks of programming. It’s too soon to even pencil in a schedule (the announcements of major guest appearances are just now starting to accelerate), but rest assured that there will be plenty to see. What can you expect?

Hollywood Stars!You’ll have the chance to attend Q&A sessions with the major media guests at the show. The announced stars so far are Peter Mayhew (Star Wars‘ Chewbacca), Adam Baldwin (Firefly), Julia Benson (Stargate Universe), and Tom Kane (Star Wars: The Clone Wars). There are other big name media guests yet to be announced… watch this space.

More costumes! Last year’s cosplay contest was a major highlight of the show, and it will be more spectacular this time around. The Planet Comicon Facebook group is already crackling with costumers gathering their gear. It’s no secret, for example, that a group of ladies affiliated with the Kansas City Time Lord Society are planning to cover each of the eleven incarnations of Doctor Who in female form – plus a tin dog.

Major comics creators!The panel programming will include more comics creators than ever before. We’ve not set the schedule, but you can be certain that we’ll hear from folks like Jason Aaron, Peter Bagge, Dennis Hopeless, Tony Moore, Ethan Van Sciver, Scottie Young, Brian Azzarello, and many more.

Live Doctor Who podcast!We’ve lined up the crew from Topeka’s Traveling the Vortex podcast to host a live session. Join Shaun, Glenn, and Keith as they travel the vortex with the Doctor and end up at the weirdest planet of them all… Planet Comicon.

We will have more convention announcements as they’re available. Planet Comicon will be held April 6-7, 2013 at its new location, Bartle Hall at the Kansas City Convention Center in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. You can find out more information at the show on its newly redesigned website at www.planetcomicon.com.